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As an 1886 homestead complex, the Steele Ranch is one of Sublette County's best remaining examples of an early homestead/ranching operation that has been passed from generation to generation. It is an excellent representative of the cattle ranching frontier which contributed significantly to the broad patterns of Wyoming settlement and development. It is associated with the Steele family, locally significant for their involvement in local politics. The ranch also embodies the distinctive characteristics of type, period, and method of construction typical of high plains ranching.

In 1886 Ed P. Steele and a friend of his traveled from Boulder, Colorado, to South Pass City in order to try their luck in the gold mines. They continued on over to the eastern part of the Green River Valley and searched for gold there. One mile below the confluence of Silver Creek at the base of Fremont Butte, five miles east of Boulder, Wyoming, they built a cabin on the East Fork River. On August 15, 1888, the rest of the Ed P. Steele family including 75 head of cattle arrived at the cabin. The Steeles filed and bought more land until they eventually operated 3,000 acres with 600 head of cattle and 100 horses. The original homestead cabin has evolved from the one-room cabin built in 1886 to an eight room log structure, whose last addition was constructed in 1908.